What part of speech is “instead-of”

phrase 'instead of' is used as a preposition. Its primary function is to indicate substitution or replacement. It suggests that one thing is being replaced by another or that one action is being done in place of another.

'instead of' is followed by a noun, pronoun, or gerund (the -ing form of a verb acting as a noun). It is used to express an alternative or choice between two (or more) things.

She chose tea instead of coffee.

I decided to walk to the store instead of driving.

Instead of complaining, he took action to solve the problem.

ensure that the elements you're comparing or substituting are parallel in structure. For instance, 'She chose to drink tea instead of drinking coffee.' Here, both 'to drink tea' and 'drinking coffee' are parallel in structure. Avoid redundancy. Phrases like 'but instead' can often be shortened to just 'instead' when used in the context of 'instead of.' For example, 'He didn't go to the party, but instead he stayed home.' can be shortened to 'He didn't go to the party; instead, he stayed home.' Be cautious with verb tenses. When using 'instead of' with verbs, ensure that the tenses match appropriately. For example, 'She wants to run instead of walks.' is incorrect. It should be 'She wants to run instead of walk.'